Students at John Burroughs School in Ladue carried rainbow flags and gathered before school Monday to show their support for gay student-athlete Jake Bain and the schools’ LGBTQ community while members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) protested near campus. The Topeka, Kan.-based church, which is known for hateful rhetoric and anti-gay sentiment, had informed the Ladue Police Department earlier this month that its members planned to picket Burroughs Monday because of Bain’s decision to come out publicly last fall and the school’s strong tolerance of gay rights.

Burroughs Headmaster Andy Abbott said that after the school was informed by the Ladue police of Westboro’s plans on March 5, more than 200 students met to decide what Burroughs’ response to protest would be. Out of that meeting, students decided to show their support for Bain and the entire LGBTQ community at the school by hosting a poster-making session as well as holding a special “celebratory” assembly, with speeches and music, before the actual start of the school day Monday. Westboro planned its protest for between 7:45 and 8:15 a.m.

Abbott explained the school’s plans in a letter sent home to the Burroughs community March 8. He said that Monday’s schedule would be altered to be a latestart so that students who wanted to avoid the picket wouldn’t have to miss any class time. Abbott also approved designating special spaces at the school for students to process the event with each other and faculty.

Bain, a Burroughs senior who is a three-season varsity-sport athlete, came out publicly in a speech he delivered at a school assembly last October. More recently, he has been the subject of numerous media stories after he announced his plans to attend Indiana State University on a football scholarship in the fall. Bain said he decided to come out publicly in order to help erase any stigmas against gay people, especially including those who play sports on a collegiate level.

“When I first found out about [the Westboro protest], I didn’t know how to react,” said Bain. “I had heard of the [WBC] and I imagined the worst. I was scared about what kind of hate would be brought here.”

When asked about Westboro’s possible impact of a picket, Bain added, “This one group of people isn’t going to change anything about us; it isn’t going to shut us up and it isn’t going to make us stop fightingto make being gay not an issue anymore.”

Outside of Burroughs, located on the corner of the Clayton and Price roads, more than 600 St. Louisans, including members of the gay-rights non-profit, Pride St. Louis, organized a counter-protest to oppose Westboro. Ladue police were also there in complete force, making sure thatthe situation was under control and that no one was in danger.

Daniel Harris, director of diversity at Burroughs, explained that one of Westboro’s motivations to protest the school was one of Burroughs’ own policies.

“Burroughs intentionally commits to making sure that no one has to check any part of themselves at our doors,” he said. “We know that exchanges with all of ourselves present produce an optimal teaching and learning environment.”

While the announcement of Westboro’s protest created a lot of fear, it also brought the Burroughs community closer together. One student said, “Everyone in the student body had become so united,” and added that she hasn’t “even heard a single person act like they did not care.” This person, a Jewish bisexual female who asked to remain anonymous, said that this unity reminded her why she liked the school so much.

“Burroughs is so progressive and unified that for people to feel the need to protest here makes me proud to be a member of the student body,” she said.

Westboro’s decision to protest garnered local, regional and even some national outcries criticizing the church. In addition to Pride St. Louis, other organizations and individuals have publicly supported Bain and Burroughs, including Ladue Horton Watkins High School’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). Numerous Burroughs faculty, staff and alumni, clergy, as well as school administrations in other districts and local business leaders also “voiced their support for our LGBTQ+ community… throughout St. Louis, around the state and around the country,” said Abbott, who added, “What we will remember is that our students responded with unity and care and courage.”